Introducing GatorBait's Summer Series, "Florida Gators In the Tokyo Olympics"
- Buddy Martin
- Jun 24, 2021
- 3 min read
Every four years—or five if there’s a global pandemic—the most elite athletes from around the world gather for two weeks of intense competition. In one of the oldest traditions in civilization, they compete for their home countries in the Olympic Games. And each Olympic Games, especially in the Summer games, the Florida Gators are incredibly well represented.
Over the next few weeks, you’ll notice a decidedly Olympic tilt to GatorBait Magazine. We want to take this time to shine a light on some of the best athletes the program has produced. Due to their sports, they don’t always get the most recognition or media coverage. But they’ve more than earned it and we want to give it as such.
Each week, we’ll look at current and former Gators who are representing both the United States of America and International countries at this years Olympic Games. Before we dive in to them individually though, we bring you this primer. A breakdown of which Gators will be competing in this summer’s games…and even some who notably aren’t.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
Perhaps no sport is better represented by the Gators than swimming and diving. Florida has a long legacy of sending Olympians to the pools, where they have set world records—Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Lochte, Dara Torres and Elizabeth Beisel to name a few. And former Head Coach Gregg Troy spent years as the Team USA coach.
As of now, three current Gator swimmers and two former swimmers are set to represent their respective countries at the Olympics. At the Team USA Olympic Trials this week, Gator swimmers swept the Free races.
*This will be updated as other countries complete their Olympic trials.
Kieran Smith will swim the 200 Free, 400 Free and 4X200 Free Relay
Bobby Finke will swim the 800 Free and 1500 Free.
Caeleb Dressell will swim the 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Fly and 4X100 Free Relay.
Natalie Hinds will swim the 4X100 Free Relay.
Alfonso Mestre will represent Venezuela in the 800 meter.
Enzo Martinez-Scarpe will swim the 50 Free for Uruguay.
Head Coach Anthony Nesty will serve as Assistant Head Coach to Team USA.
Read Ainslee Lee’s full report on the Gators domination in the free swims here.
BASKETBALL
Former Gator great Bradley Beal will be a part of the 12-man Team USA roster in the Summer Olympics. This is his first Olympic Games and Beal—the three time NBA All-Star—will be the first Gator basketball player to compete with Team USA basketball. Although credit to Florida Gators Senior Associate Athletics Director Mary Howard for this gem of a piece of trivia.
“While Beal will be the first men’s basketball Olympian from the Gators, he will not be the first former UF men’s basketball player to compete in the Olympics. Harry Winkler, who played at Florida from 1965-68, competed in team handball at the 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal Olympics.”
TRACK AND FIELD
The Team USA Track and Field trials are still ongoing in Oregon. An extreme heat wave has forced trial officials to postpone weekend events and so the roster for Tokyo is yet to be set. However, there are three Gators who have already secured their spots.
Taylor Manson, Will Claye and Cory McGee will all represent Team USA on the track this summer.
*This will be updated as other countries and Team USA complete their Olympic trials. Follow along for live updates here.
Taylor Manson – 4x400 Relay
Cory McGee – 1,500 meters
Will Claye – Triple Jump
McGee made Team USA team after she finished second in the 1,500 meters finals. The UF record holder finished with personal-record time of 4:00.67.
Claye made the team for the third consecutive time in the triple jump and once again became the American champion. It was a close competition that came down to his last jump, in which Claye secured the win with a leap of 17.21 meters.
Manson finished seventh in the 400 meters and was named to the 4x400 relay pool Sunday night. Manson logged a new personal-record time of 50.79 seconds, the third-fastest time in school history, to make her first Olympic team.
While there are still events to finish, it's expected Gator great and reigning world champion Grant Holloway will represent the red, white and blue in the 110 meter hurdles.
The 2020 (2021) games will take place in Tokyo, Japan and begin July 23.
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